Inspiring story

I read a story in the Mormon Times today about a LDS Dutch Serviceman who spread the gospel while held prisoner in Camp Stalag 371, during WWII. If you'd like to read it, you will find it here:

http://www.mormontimes.com/studies_doctrine/church_history/?id=6034

My weird sense of humor

There is a new restaurant near our house, Dickie's Barbeque Pit. Well, they have the weirdest hand dryers I've ever seen. I mentioned them to someone else, and she knew exactly what hand dryers I was talking about, so I must not go out much.

Anyway, they are "super powerful" and dry your hands in about 10 seconds. That's not the weird thing (although it is efficient). The weird thing is the way the hand dryer blows so hard your flesh is moved around on your hand.















I took a couple pictures to demonstrate. I took pictures of the front and back of my hand (one with the hand dryer and one without) and one of my arm.
























AJ wanted me to take a picture of him too, so there is a picture of his hand under the hand dryer.

A Trip to Placerita Nature Center


Michael's Scout Troop took a trip to the Placerita Nature Center on Saturday and watched the animal show. I went along as a chaperone and brought John and AJ.








It looked like rain all morning, but cleared up right at 1:00 pm, when the show was scheduled to start. We had a few light showers during the show, but Shirley Cornwall brought an umbrella she was kind enough to share.




Despite the rain, the boys had a great time! They saw a red tailed hawk, an owl, an opossum, a snake, and a tarantula. They even had the opportunity to touch the tarantula. I abstained, but others enjoyed it.




















































Afterwards, we took the boys out for ice cream at Coldstone Creamery.

The Aquarium of the Pacific



















Today, I took David, Michael, and A.J. to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. We bought a membership a couple months ago and are determined to make the most of it.

I took a picture of the kids in the parking garage, because I really like the fish they've carved into the floor. Not as picturesque as the aquarium, but fun nonetheless.











We visited our favorite aquarium exhibits today starting with "Shark Lagoon" which has sharks and rays you can touch. The boys got a kick out of it and stayed there a long time.

























Next we visited the Lorikeet Forest. This exhibit features colorful Lorikeet birds that fly around and land on your shoulders (well, if you buy the Lorikeet nectar, which we did). David was the bird's favorite. Michael was a bit hesitant at first, but really got into it.





























Finally, we viewed the exhibits inside: jellyfish (I didn't take any pictures of these this time), pet the mini rays, 2 large fish tanks, and what we like to call the "wall of fish."





















It was a great day, with a fun time had by all!

A Bad Week


Our kids did not have the best luck last week.


On Tuesday, Michael came home from school with a hurt finger (he jammed it playing basketball). It was swollen and hurt to bend it. After a thorough examination, I put a splint on it and declared it jammed rather than broken. (Having broken a finger myself, I felt confident in that assessment.) The swelling began to go down.

However, on Thursday morning, Michael's finger was swelling again. After asking Michael a few questions, I determined that the swelling was probably due to the fact that he took a shower the night before with the splint on. We took the splint off and put ice on it. (If that hadn't worked, I was planning to take him to the doctor.) Within 30 minutes of taking the splint off, the swelling was almost completely gone. He had a small bruise on one knuckle and on the side of his finger, but other than that, it was much better. He able to move it now and no longer needs the splint.


Then, on Wednesday, Jacob complained that his foot was hurting. He stepped on something over the weekend and it looked like the bottom of his foot was covered with a stripe of blisters. I took him to the doctor, because I suspected that his cut was infected, and the infection was spreading. The doctor confirmed it and prescribed some pretty heavy duty antibiotics. His foot is doing much better. The swelling is down, but you can still see the "line" where the infection was spreading from his wound. I would show you pictures, but Jacob did not want pictures of his foot on the internet. He told me to find a picture of someone else's foot and show that, but I couldn't find one.

Lasik

John has been considering Lasik (corrective laser eye surgery) for several years. He finally bit the bullet and had it done on Saturday. Actually, John scheduled a consultation in Santa Clarita on Saturday at 1:00 pm. After declaring John an "ideal candidate", the eye doctor asked him if he wanted it done today.












John said yes and an appointment was scheduled for the Los Angeles office (where they perform the actual procedure). We hopped in the car and drove to the surgery center.




Everything went really smoothly (and quickly). Within an hour after arriving, John had Lasik performed. By 4:45 pm, we were in the car and on our way home with John seeing almost as well without his glasses as he did with them before Lasik.





He had a follow up visit this morning, to make sure his eyes were healing well. The doctor did a quick exam and found he is now seeing better without his glasses than he did with them, and his vision should continue to improve over the next few weeks. He needs to put in eye drops every half hour for the next month or so, but that's about it for aftercare (other than some follow-up visits).

A Trip to the Zoo

















John, David, Michael, A.J., and I went to the Los Angeles Zoo on Saturday. John had not been there since the new entrance was unveiled, so we thought it was time to go again. We were pleasantly surprised to find the new Gorilla exhibit had also opened. We had a great time! The weather was perfect (low to mid 60's), and the animals were out and moving around.

































The boys posed outside the Orangutan Exhibit.


































Several years ago, I took pictures of Michael and David in front of the California Condor display at the zoo. This year I took new pictures of them and one of A.J. Just look at how much they've grown!





A.J. (2008)















Michael (2008 and 2003)















David (2008 and 2003)













John really liked taking pictures of the animals, but it made him wish we had a better digital camera. He's talked about getting a very nice Nikon camera (the D90). We'll see if this convinces him to buy it.

Anyway, here are a few photos of the animals. One of the highlights was the Orangutan exhibit. There was a very cute baby orangutan who was jumping, swinging, rolling around, and bugging the adult orangutans. Also, one of the adults began interacting with the people. He (or she) reached through the mesh and picked a plant and threw it at the people nearby. The people picked something else and threw it just outside the mesh and a game of catch ensued. We must have stood there watching the orangutans for at least 15 minutes.